Salvation
by PersianFreak
Summary: Companion one-shot to Angel of Mercy. Set after that story; a little glimpse of Eric and Sookie's life together.


_**Salvation**_** by PersianFreak**

**Companion to **_**Angel of Mercy**_

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Charlaine Harris. Please don't sue.

Rating: T

A/N: Comments are always welcome.

_Like a river flows surely to the sea,_

_Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be._

_So take my hand, and take my whole life too,_

'_Cause I can't help falling in love with you._

_I keep falling in love with you._

"Can't Help Falling In Love", Ingrid Michaelson cover

He thought I was asleep the first time he said it.

I couldn't blame him; I had taken cold medicine to get rid of the congestion enough to let me sleep, and it had made me sleepy to the point where Eric had reluctantly accepted the fact that I really wasn't up for sex or anything else that required my mental awareness. Sighing, he had scooped me up and tucked me under his covers, joining me in his six-feet-four-inches of half-naked glory. We had talked for a little, and I had drowsily observed my impressive ability to maintain a conversation when I was nearly out of my head with exhaustion and sickness. When Eric asked me about my plans for the following day, a sound of acknowledgement was the most I could manage and he had chuckled, stroking my hair and humming to himself in a clear sign that I was free to fall asleep.

And I had, for perhaps a few moments, but something about the rise of his chest when he began speaking again managed to awaken me and I had wrenched myself out of my slumber to focus on his words, eyes still closed.

"... maybe I'll tell you on your birthday. You'll be more likely to believe me in a few months anyways." He had sighed and his hold on me had tightened almost imperceptibly before he had chuckled. "At least asleep you can't shoot me down when I tell you I love you, my feisty little telepath." He loved me. _He _loved me. _He_ loved _me_. Thankfully, I started coughing violently which saved me from having to explain why my heart rate had skyrocketed mid-sleep. Once calm, I had murmured his name and clung to him tightly as I fell asleep, this time without waking.

He _did_ tell me on my birthday, murmuring it in my ear in the post-coital contentment that I had found myself swimming in.

"I thought you said you were never going to say it to me." I had fought to keep my tone light, wanting to hear my answer before I admitted to anything.

"That was when I expected you to make every second of our courtship difficult," he had smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I had dismissed the antiquated vernacular and frowned, tilting my head away to get a better look at him.

"Well, I expected you to push me away and deny any feelings I had towards you." He admitted, almost sheepishly.

"Me?" Sitting up, I scoffed. "You were the one who burst into my house and told me that you weren't going to tell me you loved me when everything you did screamed it out."

"You're right, it showed in everything I did, so how come you didn't catch on?" I smiled a little at his grasp of the modern vernacular even while he had maintained his hold on the archaic terms and phrases.

"Because I can't read your mind," I pointed out patiently. "To me, you were still a thousand-year-old sheriff who had learned he needed to act more human if he wanted to have anything to do with me. How was I supposed to know?"

"Because I didn't have any motivation to change my attitude." I raised a brow and he continued. "Sookie, you being content would never have been motivation enough for me to be _nice_. I had no interest in keeping you happy when you were just an asset. I changed because..." He drifted off and I moved closer to him, placing my legs around his waist.

"Because...?" I prompted playfully and he smirked. "You were desperately in love with little ol' human me?"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, lover." He pressed a thumb into my lip, seemingly mesmerized by the way the blood flooded to darken the flesh. "There's nothing ordinary about you."

"Is _that_ why you're in love with me?" I breathed.

He laughed warmly, his chest shaking under my hand. "If you want to hear me say it again, why won't you just ask?"

"Will you say it again?"

"Say what?" The teasing light was back in his eyes.

"'I love you'," I played along.

"Hey, look at you, making progress." He ducked his head when I reached to smack him, his laughter reverberating around the room once more. The arm I had raised wrapped around his neck when I pulled myself into his lap, capturing his bottom lip lightly between my teeth. "Say it." Eric exhaled a breath he didn't need and pressed his thumb into my hip.

"_I love you_ doesn't even begin to cover it. But I do love you."

"Then what does?" I asked. "Cover it, I mean."

His lips twitched in a crooked smile. "What, you want me to pour my heart out to you? Ruin my reputation as the feared warrior that I am?"

"The feared warrior who happens to be cuddling with me right now." I grinned back and he growled threateningly.

"Oh, please, most fearsome warrior, have mercy." I gasped in feigned horror and he nodded, satisfied.

"That's right. You _should_ be afraid." I smiled, pushing his hair back from his face to press my lips against his temple, letting my lips linger there. He stilled in my arms, seemingly content to stay there so I leaned my forehead against the side of his head, taking a moment to kiss the shell of his ear.

"I love you too," I whispered, feeling his pleasure fill the bond even as he pulled back, his expression carefully composed.

"Enough to move to Shreveport?"

Ah, there's the rub, I thought to myself. "And quit my job? Sleep all day, stay with you all night? We've talked about this, Eric."

"I didn't say that," he said carefully.

"It's what you were getting at," I countered, his guarded expression letting me know that I was right. "Honey, that's not going to happen. I need you to – please – realize that."

"Humans move in together. Now, in your time, when two humans love each other, they live together. Even if they aren't married, which you and I are."

"But that's not what you're asking. You're not asking to share our lives with each other; you want me to leave_ my _home, _my_ job and all my friends so I can come live in _your_ home, live the life _you_ want me to live with all the people _you_ want me to associate myself with."

He frowned, stifling the anger he was expressing through the bond. "Fine."

I paused a beat, "What?"

"Let's _share our lives_. You sell your house, I'll sell mine, and we'll buy something _together_ in between Bon Temps and Shreveport. You keep your job, I'll keep mine. Compromise."

I stared at him, waiting for words to come to me and, when they didn't, I took a moment to just look around at my room. Not much had changed in the past two years of our relationship. Eric had taken possession of one of my drawers and his wallet and watch sat atop my bedside table next to my watch, his leather jacket tossed over the back of the armchair, over my dark-washed jeans that were Eric's favourites. His presence in my life was matched by that of his belongings in my room and mine in his Shreveport home. It hadn't been easy, maintaining a relationship when he lived in a different town and had a business to run, on top of the fact that he was only awake at night and that I had a life of my own to live. We had managed, though. Somehow. The thought of being without Eric had provided enough incentive for me to try and make it work between us, and he had always seemed to be equally motivated, much to my pleasure. But moving in together? It would certainly make seeing each other much easier, that was for sure, and I could afford it thanks to the 6-digit sum my great-grandfather had left behind when he had left my world, unbeknownst to me. So that wasn't a problem. The problem was me not knowing if I could possibly handle all the baggage that came along with moving in together.

"Sookie?" He broke into my thoughts. "Just go ahead and say 'no' so I can get started on convincing you."

"I want to keep my house," I said quietly and he sighed, but I continued before he could find the words. "It's been in my family too long for me to just abandon it, so I'll rent it out. We can start looking for a house tomorrow?" Eric's jaw was hanging open and I smiled, placing a palm under his chin to close his mouth.

"Were you somehow possessed when I wasn't paying attention, lover?"

"Hey. Not nice." I smiled and he shook his head incredulously, laughing.

"You're serious?"

"What, you've changed your mind?"

"Not in a thousand years."

I kissed the corner of his mouth, his perfect lips, this beautiful man who had somehow made me fall in love with him. "Good. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow night," he corrected with a smile.

_Eric brushed Sookie's hair back from her face, smiling at the deepening of her breaths before he slipped out from under the covers. She hadn't fooled him several months ago when she had feigned sleep, but he had played along, telling her that he loved her to gauge her reaction for when he would say it to her face. He hadn't been disappointed; the way her heart had started hammering in her chest... one would think she was being chased by a savage maenad. Though she had faced a maenad and won, so he couldn't imagine what could set her heart beating that way._

_Other than him naked and drowning her in his lust._

_Or telling her he loved her._

_Smiling to himself, he headed to the corner of the room, pleased with the outcomes of the night as he set to finding what he was looking for. The piece of paper folded in half and tucked inside his jacket pocket was worn, its edges yellowing with the weight of the years it had endured, unfolded and refolded until it was soft as clothe. Locating a pen, Eric unfolded the paper and ran his finger down the check-marked items on the list, smiling past number one ("Get her to admit she cares for you"), number three ("Show her your house"), and number six ("Buy her a new car – Lexus? Mazda? Red."), all the way down to number nine which he checked, smiling triumphantly as he read over the words: "Moving in together is simply logical". There were three other items on the list, but there was time yet for those. They had so much time, she thought. But it wasn't enough. Her mortality could never be enough, not when he was invested in her, so entangled in her. Refolding the list, he put it back in its place and hurried across the hall to the light-proof room that had become his daytime resting place when he slept over, sliding under the covers just in time to be claimed by the day._


End file.
